top | item 1490284

Woot To The AP: Nice Story About Our Sale — You Now Owe Us $17.50

314 points| dwynings | 15 years ago |techcrunch.com | reply

46 comments

order
[+] ynniv|15 years ago|reply
Does TechCrunch add anything to this story? Seems like we could have just linked to Woot.com instead of a page of quotes and a quip that TC doesn't talk about the AP.
[+] pavs|15 years ago|reply
I can't help but feel that TC has become the ebaumsworld of tech blog. Nothing interesting, intellectual, relevant; just grab whatever you find on the internet, copy paste 90% of the contents and BAM you have a blog post.

I think TC suffers from the same disease as Gizmodo, where the "authors" are encouraged to do whatever they want as long as it brings in traffic. They get bonus on traffic, who cares if its silly even for high-school standard.

[+] chime|15 years ago|reply
It brings the story to attention, just like HN does. TC does it with link + headline + text + discussion. HN does link + headline + discussion. I don't see a problem with that.

Edit: Why the down-votes?

[+] natep|15 years ago|reply
The link will still point to this story tomorrow.

Honest question, do you know if each blurb on the front page of Woot has a permalink?

[+] jeebusroxors|15 years ago|reply
Well they DID casually mention they did this same stunt years ago...

and it’s actually similar to something we did a couple years ago, trying to charge the AP $12.50 for their usage of quotes from us.

[+] aaronbrethorst|15 years ago|reply
Anything that keeps MG Siegler from writing another post about Apple, Foursquare or Twitter for even a few minutes is a huge win in my book.
[+] robobenjie|15 years ago|reply
I actually visited woot.com today, saw the headphones and moved on. It wasn't until the techcrunch article pointed me back to it that I read the whole thing. The TC points you to the right bit.

Although I suppose that could have been done with a clever title.

[+] iag|15 years ago|reply
Wow props to Woot to sticking it to AP. The woot writers should write a book of all the funny comments that couldn't go on the front page. It must be pretty epic.
[+] madmaze|15 years ago|reply
I totally agree =) Woot should get a good pat on the back. I curious to see whether AP responds.
[+] vegasbrianc|15 years ago|reply
Typical double standards by the AP. Great to see Woot having some humor with the matter.
[+] FiReaNG3L|15 years ago|reply
The AP just act like the dinosaur they are, no wonder they're worried about going extinct
[+] VengefulCynic|15 years ago|reply
The only thing better than this would be if Woot took the AP to Small Claims Court over the bill.
[+] URSpider94|15 years ago|reply
That would be a priceless win-win situation. Either AP would have to take it on the chin and pay up to Woot, or fight the case, win, and create precedent that fair use of online material in a news report is not a copyright violation.
[+] JadeNB|15 years ago|reply
I am embarrassed not to be able to decode what's going on here. The backstory and such, yes, I understand, but what's this about an e-mail receipt for headphones? Did Woot buy headphones and bill them to the AP? Is Woot saying that the AP has to go out and buy the headphones themselves, then prove that they've done so?

I know that it's a joke, and I (think I) get the major thrust of it, but I just can't seem to understand what's the actual suggested mechanism of the alternative payment scheme.

[+] David|15 years ago|reply
Visiting woot.com might clarify things.

Woot's business (from their FAQ page: http://woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx) is about selling one item a day, at a really good price. The Sennheiser headphones are today's item... and in that space where they're calling out AP, they usually talk up the day's product. They work in the sales pitch later in the text, though it isn't included in the TechCrunch article.

So their alternative payment is buying their product instead of paying them directly. (But really, it's just a lead-in to the marketing pitch they usually have. I think. It's my first time there, too.)

[+] CrazedGeek|15 years ago|reply
Woot's telling the AP that, if they buy the two-pack of headphones and send Woot the receipt, Woot will let the $17.50 citation charge slide.
[+] GBond|15 years ago|reply
I like concept here of creating controversy and buzz and shifting the attention to selling. The blog post serves 2 purposes: sticking it to AP AND selling the latest Woot deal.

They did something similar with the Amazon deal announcement with the Kindle deal.